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Stephen Ambrose

Lies, Damned Lies, And Stephen Ambrose: A Warning To The Profession

I just read this New Yorker story thanks to my e-friend and colleague, Kevin Levin. The gist is this: Stephen Ambrose lied, distorted, and embellished his level of personal contact with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in order to make a name for himself. Here are the lies: (1) Eisenhower didn’t initiate contact with Ambrose, contrary to later stories by Ambrose.(2) They met 3 times totaling 5 hours, not many times totaling hundreds of hours over 5 years.(3) Ambrose was never alone with Eisenhower. (4) Ambrose compounded his lies by distorting the nature and extent of the interviews in subsequent books, Read more